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Hi guys, for the length of my 8 years of painting, I've only used black primer to paint, since most models I paint are dark in general, with very little white being present on them. However, I recently began work on putting together a SM company and I have no idea what primer to use on the apothecary. Like most codex chapters, he's going to have white armor and the leather or heavy nylon suit underneath his armor is going to be black. Whether I prime him white or black, he's still gonna bleed. I was thinking gray maybe?

I prime black myself, since I paint Raven Guard, and they are all black with white parts to them. I've found that gray does work for covering black, going to white. As for the apothecary, since he is a lone figure, you could go gray for sure, or even use white, but I think gray might work best. I haven't gotten to mine yet, and plan on using gray as the primer for mine when I do paint him.

It's easier to get good blacks on a white primer than it is to get clean whites over black.
I prime grey for my white IG because I can use it as a starting point for the shadows.

 DarkKnights44 wrote:
I prime black myself, since I paint Raven Guard, and they are all black with white parts to them. I've found that gray does work for covering black, going to white. As for the apothecary, since he is a lone figure, you could go gray for sure, or even use white, but I think gray might work best. I haven't gotten to mine yet, and plan on using gray as the primer for mine when I do paint him.

Yeah, gray seems like the best option at this point. Thanks a bunch.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
It's easier to get good blacks on a white primer than it is to get clean whites over black.
I prime grey for my white IG because I can use it as a starting point for the shadows.

I was thinking that. I had to paint white over black. Haha, not fun at all.

You should ABSOLUTELY pick up some black gesso from your local art store. Stuff is dirt cheap and covers like primer but it is applied with a brush. My advice to you is to prime your mini white and apply black gesso to whatever parts you want to be black. It will dry flat so just apply some regular black paint over top of the gesso if that bothers you.

I have used this technique with great success.

White and grey gesso are also available but I've never tried them myself.

I highly recommend priming in gray if you're going to be painting the model white/black.

This will allow you to build up to a more natural looking white while avoiding the chalkiness so prevalent in white primers

Well, whatever you do, shade lightly in grey!

I also managed to prime white then lightly wash in black with Army Painter ink wash, and will finish with white.

Ricimdi wrote:
You should ABSOLUTELY pick up some black gesso from your local art store. Stuff is dirt cheap and covers like primer but it is applied with a brush. My advice to you is to prime your mini white and apply black gesso to whatever parts you want to be black. It will dry flat so just apply some regular black paint over top of the gesso if that bothers you.

I have used this technique with great success.

White and grey gesso are also available but I've never tried them myself.

Wow, first I've heard of that. I'll be looking into that for sure.